Steven Spielberg got emotional over original trio’s return in ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’

In what promises to be the Jurassic franchise’s version of an Avengers team-up, Jurassic World: Dominion will close out the sequel trilogy by bringing back the original stars of 1993’s Jurassic Park. Sam Neill and Laura Dern are back as Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler, both last seen in 2001’s Jurassic Park 3, with Jeff Goldblum returning as Ian Malcolm in a greater capacity this time following his cameo in 2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

It’s sure to mean a lot to fans when we finally get a glimpse at the trio together, but it was especially emotional for Steven Spielberg when he first saw Neill, Dern, and Goldblum back on set. Director Colin Trevorrow revealed to Empire that he showed the Jurassic Park filmmaker a photo of the trio working on Dominion, and Spielberg got “very emotional” overseeing his old friends and colleagues reunited.

“The moment everybody shows up for the first time together, they’re all packed into a Jeep,” teases Trevorrow. “And I took a picture of it and I sent it to Steven [Spielberg]. He got very emotional. I don’t think even he was prepared for how moving it would be to see all of those characters that he loves, and people that he loves, looking incredible and on an adventure together.”

Thanks to Trevorrow’s tease, we now know what to expect when Alan, Ellie, and Ian first meet Chris Pratt’s Owen Grady and Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire Dearing. The fact that it’ll take place in a jeep has to reference the famous scene from the ’93 film in which the three travel through the park for the first time in a jeep. Is Dr. Malcolm going to whip out his big speech about chaos theory again?

The good news is that Neill, Dern, and Goldblum won’t just be making glorified cameos in Dominion, as Trevorrow promised Empire that the “legacy characters [play] as large a role as our modern characters” in the threequel — or is it a sixth-quel? The filmmaker, who is returning to conclude the trilogy he began with 2015’s Jurassic World after J.A. Bayona helmed Fallen Kingdom, said that he wanted to “make sure that every character is honored in the way that they need to be.” 

Jurassic World: Dominion roars into theaters on June 10, 2022. If you haven’t caught it yet, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous season four hit Netflix earlier this month.